Calhoun Community College to hold candle lighting for nursing grads

Calhoun Community College will hold its annual candlelighting ceremony for associate degree nursing graduates on Thursday. Katey Abel is shown at the 2008 event. (The Huntsville Times file photo)

DECATUR, Alabama -- Calhoun Community College on Thursday will hold a special ceremony for recent nursing graduates.

A candlelighting ceremony will take place Thursday at 3 p.m. at Kelley Gymnasium on the school's Decatur campus for the Associate Degree Nursing graduates who graduated following the fall semester.

"Since our ADN program has gone to a twice-a-year admittance, we now have nursing graduates who complete the program during both the fall and spring semesters," Bret McGill, dean of the college's Health Sciences division, said in a press release.

"While these students will have to wait until next May to actually participate in our graduation ceremony, we wanted to provide them with the opportunity to experience this nursing 'right of passage' now."

According to McGill, 82 nursing graduates are expected to participate in Thursday's candlelighting ceremony. McGill also stated that approximately 114 new students will be admitted this spring into the ADN program.